DWP Cock-up

[niemeyjt]

This seems to apply more to pensioners in Canada, so far, but maybe those in France should just check anyhow.

British expats hit by state pension blunder

Thousands of British expats have had their state pension suspended after a "serious administrative error" which saw letters lost in the post.

The Department for Work and Pensions has turned the taps off pensions paid to British pensioners living in Canada who were accused of failing to return “proof of life” forms the retirees claim they never received.

The pensions department then sent letters stating state pension payments had been cancelled and retirees had “no right of appeal against the decision”.

It blamed the widespread error on Canadian postal delays, claiming the forms had been lost in the post. However, pensioners said they had received the letters informing them of the suspension just not the original form.

Ian Andexser, chairman of the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners, said this had sparked “anguish” and stress among the 130,000 British retirees living in Canada. The campaign group has been inundated with calls from worried pensioners who have had their state pensions cut.

Mr Andexser said call centre workers at a government pensions helpline confirmed thousands of expats had been affected and that there had been a “serious administrative error”.

Some have been forced to get by for months without their monthly stipend, after not receiving any payments since June. Pensioners who contacted Mr Andexser said they had been pushed to the brink and were forced to go into arrears after being denied the money that they deserved after years of making National Insurance contributions.

“The anger is palpable, real and justified,” he said. “This egregious error has left our members struggling to pay bills, unable to afford basic necessities and pushed into overdrafts. Many pensioners are unable to sleep or cope with the pressures of a global cost of living crisis,” he added.

In a letter to the Government, Mr Andexser said that pensioners had “categorically not received the form”. The “life certificate”, called CF (N) 698, is a letter sent by the Department for Work and Pensions to check that the British expat is still eligible for the state pension.

British pensioners in Canada have long been denied their state pension in full, with the level they receive frozen from the time they retired or emigrated.

Pensioners in Britain and certain countries, including the EU, receive annual increases under the “triple lock”. Around the world more than 510,000 retirees are locked out of inflation and earnings-linked increases.

The Government has blamed the widespread error on postal delays, claiming that the forms had been lost in the post. However, pensioners said they had received letters informing them of the suspension but had yet to receive the “life certificate” forms.

A spokesman for the DWP said: “We understand the frustration of customers affected by Canadian postal delays. We’ve implemented measures to enable the clearing of life certificates by phone and encourage those impacted to contact our International Pension Centre. All payments will be backdated.”

source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-re ... thousands/

[exile]

How do you check that you did not receive something?

[niemeyjt]

Well I don't know how often they are sent out, but something like this in pseudocode might work for you:

if (date last received + sending interval) < today then panic

[ajm]

We sent ours back but it would be good to have had an acknowledgement they they had got it. I suppose that we are still getting our pensions means they did.

[niemeyjt]

Great - hopefully the cock-up is confined to Canada. But forewarned and all that.

[Hotrodder]

I have always been concerned that pension payments admin has been farmed out to some entity in the US. Can't the UK government manage its own business? They couldn't even get the old hard copy records digitised "in house". They were sent to Germany (Siemens I think) for the changeover, and even then several thousand records were lost in the process.

[exile]

The issue of the proof of life certificates from DWP seems to be very random.

For 3 years or so I got an annual one. Then they have arrived with various gaps between one and the next.
OH is still waiting for her first one and that is a double digit wait.

[Bayleaf]

I have always been concerned that pension payments admin has been farmed out to some entity in the US. Can't the UK government manage its own business? They couldn't even get the old hard copy records digitised "in house". They were sent to Germany (Siemens I think) for the changeover, and even then several thousand records were lost in the process.

Seems the UK Govt. are incapable of doing anything themselves - always have to outsource it (to line someone's pockets). Although, I guess when it goes wrong they can always point the figure of blame elsewhere!

I wonder by the time I retire (currently in about 10yrs time) there'll even be anything at all!

[Quiksilver]

There's a very simple solution, given the technology available nowadays. A video call using Skype, What'sApp or one of the many platforms that pensioners use to keep in touch with their families. I can see why verification of a standard voice call is open to abuse, but ye Gods, the DWP could use any one of a number of security checks/codes/passwords/iris recognition tools.
For those who aren't 'connected', France now has France Services in most towns to provide facilities and help with this kind of thing. Maybe there is similar help available in other european countries?

[MAD87]

@niemeyjt Thanks for posting this.
I sent a letter to DWP yesterday asking for payments no longer to be made to Barclays...
I hope someone is making moves to obtain compensation for the defrauded pensioners, citing the odious Mme Coffey. It could easily come out of her deep pockets (£200k/year "expenses" + inflated salary).
Sorry, just having an early rant.